Clean Slate
by LadyHeartseeker
Summary: She's a mutant, he's a god. He lies, while she sees the truth. Both are contracted by the enigmatic THEMIS corporation to tear apart the Avengers initiative & S.H.I.E.L.D. Revenge is sweet, but is that what really has Loki motivated to work beneath humans? Or is it the threat of having his memories wiped from his mind? Loki x OC, Post Avengers, Rated M for later chapters
1. Chapter 1

**Thanks for popping in to read my first uploaded fanfiction. Just a few notes, I'm not making this a crossover because the X Gene and Mutants are all Marvel universe just like the Avengers, so even if it doesn't pop up in the movies, its there. If I could just label this fanfiction 'Marvel Universe' I probably would, but Avengers is as close as it gets. Enjoy!**

**** ****Disclaimer: I do not own Avengers, Thor, or anything else Marvel.**

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**Clean** **Slate**

Standing out on the balcony was one of the few times Lydia could claim her mind as truly her own. It was nearing midnight, and as she stood there in her nightgown it never occurred to her that she might be cold. Any excuse she could make to go back inside was stifled under her need to breathe freely, to escape even momentarily from what she knew very well could be the rest of her life.

The building she lived in was not her own. The room she would eventually saunter back to did not belong to her, even if they let her pick a few decorations for it. Hell, even her mind was not her own more often than not. She stayed in the seven story structure built into the side of a mountain as a prisoner, under the guise of a guest. It started with puberty; she had turned 12 years old and within weeks displayed an array of unusual behaviors. Often she would finish people's sentences for them, answer questions people around her hadn't said out loud, and people started to feel increasingly uneasy by her presence. She adopted the label "mutant", and slowly the people she cared about stepped out of her life, avoiding contact with her as though she carried a plague.

It was only after her sense of isolation grew to the point of depression that she made the decision to end her life. She had forced her way into the minds of her parents, shattering their memories of her, and threw herself into the Hudson River, only to wake up in the facility. At first, she thought it was a center for the suicidal, but it was a short amount of time before her savior's intentions became clear. Lydia was to use the powers that had ostracized her in order to help the enigmatic organization THEMIS reach their goals. It was then she adopted a new title, as she was told this was quite common among new mutants, and became Mnemosyne.

The sound of someone clearing their throat interrupted the silence. Lydia cleared her mind of thoughts, pushing back the remaining emotions that had threatened to surface at the recollection of her past. She half-turned to look at the armed guard behind her, raising an eyebrow as if to question him. She knew he was there, as she wasn't allowed to go anywhere unescorted aside from her own living quarters. Even so, the guards often remained silent, as if they were robotic, so for this man to so much as clear his throat was new to her.

Sure enough, the man (his vest had the name 'Peterson' embroidered into it) approached her, his semi-automatic combat rifle hanging loosely at his side. "Commander Jennings has requested your presence in the debriefing room immediately."

Lydia's eyebrow hitched a bit higher, her expression almost amused. She was being summoned in the middle of the night? For what reason? "Well, good thing I'm awake, then." She said allowed, striding past the guard and back to her quarters with Peterson close behind. Once she'd taken the time to change and put her hair back, she stopped momentarily as if by habit to check her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was a soft shade of brown that, when down, fell to the base of her shoulder blades. Her eyes looked tired and lifeless, so dark that one would have to be close to see they were brown at all. At one time, she remembered her skin being an olive shade, but she had scarcely seen sunlight for years, and now it was faded into light beige. Her sharp, angular eyebrows furrowed as she realized she was over-examining herself, and without a second glance she turned on her heel and was out the door.

Peterson had waited outside if the room for her and upon her re-appearance resumed a brisk pace by her side. He kept throwing her anxious sideways glances, as if to encourage her to quicken her pace, to which she obliged. Even with it being so late, her promptness was expected when the masters called. Peterson took the last few steps in stride, closing the gap between himself and the door and opening it for Lydia with a nod. It was then she realized he was new, not because he had opened a door for her, but because most guards kept their hands on their weapons at all times around her. A few had seen her in action, and word spread quickly through the facility about how quickly she could drop a man with a prolonged touch...

As she stepped through the doorway, it was like a mental switch flipped. On her own time, she was Lydia Andris, but over the years she had adapted to completing tasks that were given to her by her captors at THEMIS. A private cooperation that worked outside of government law, THEMIS owned the building Lydia lived in, and by proxy Lydia herself. They had taken her a short time after her X gene had become apparent in hopes to harness the power she had to touch the minds of others. Commander Jennings, a man of about 45 whose youth had left him early, was the leader of THEMIA's small army of soldiers and scientists. He was also the one in charge at the facility Lydia lived in, and had never been overly fond of her. That was the primary reason her stomach churned when he addressed her by name instead of her adopted title.

"Lydia," he said, his teeth gleaming through his almost forced smile. "Glad to see you're awake."

She did not take his bait and engage in conversation, but did move towards him with a faked air of confidence. Now she was Mnemosyne, a fearless titaness, evolved beyond human understanding... But why did she feel so weak before this man? She recalled several occasions where he'd slapped her for disobedience, but quickly realized there was another kind of fear that went beyond her own physical pain. Jennings had a sense of accomplishment about him, and that couldn't mean anything good.

"We've picked something up. I need you to tell us what's going on in its head." Jennings continued, making his way across the room from Mnemosyne to a large pane of glass. Through there, an immaculately white room was visible, and in the center an occupied stretcher. In it lie a man, but she could not make out detail from the distance.

"Is he a Mutant?" Mnemosyne heard herself ask, stepping closer to the glass to examine more closely.

"We're not sure. A witness says he fell from the sky. And considering S.H.I.E.L.D was all over the place after we left, I imagine he's valuable."

The word S.H.I.E.L.D caused an involuntary shiver to run through her. Though she'd never had an encounter with the government agency herself, rumors and whispers told her it was an intelligence agency dedicated to eradicating or controlling all abnormal life forms and technology. Seemed like the stuff of nightmares to a mutant.

Without further probing, Mnemosyne moved towards the door that would let her enter the containment room, looking to Jennings for permission. He followed after her, placing his hand on a scanner that let off a trio of soft beeps at his touch. Before the door closed behind her, she heard him say "Be careful", but knew it had nothing to do with her own safety.

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**Thanks again for reading! Sorry about a poorly explained intro, but there are a lot of elements that will be revealed as the story goes on. Not knowing everything from the get-go is part of the mystery! (Its also part of my poor writing but shush you *swats*)**

**Please review, thats the only way I know what I'm doing right and wrong! Ta-ta~**


	2. Chapter 2

**So last night I uploaded chapter one, and I got a follower to my story, which is ridiculously exciting considering I'm pretty much just writing this for myself. THANK YOU RANDOM STORY FOLLOWER! Here's chapter two, just for you.**

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**Chapter 2**

The door behind Mnemosyne gave a soft click as it slid shut, leaving her in silence save for the thumping of her heart. At the very least, that provided her a sense if comfort as she gazed upon the stranger tied to a bed in the center of the holding room.

He was no more than 3 yards away, and was apparently unconscious. However, as she approached his bedside, the soft murmuring of voices echoed through her mind. Thoughts of his, or memories of his past, that even while he slept were so strong they burst through. '_He's having a nightmare._' Mnemosyne made a mental note of this, as it could cause him to become very aware of her presence were she not careful.

The man's onyx hair clung to his pale skin, flecks of perspiration clinging in little droplets on his forehead and high cheekbones. His lips were slightly parted as he inhaled and exhaled, and his slim chest rose with every breath. He had a black, form fitting shirt full of small holes and tears and a pair of black cotton pants that seemed to hang off him a bit. The area around his eyes had a dark, almost reddish pallor, as if he hasn't slept for many days.

Mnemosyne tilted her dead downwards and a tad to the side, extending a hand towards the man's face. Jennings said he fell from the sky... Could this be possible? He didn't seem injured externally. '_One way to find out...'_ She leaned over the stranger and placed her hands on either side of his angular face. Her eyes fluttered shut as she slipped into his mind, his reality, his sanctuary, and began to pry.

It was always very different inside the mind of someone sleeping as opposed to someone awake; their dreams fought at the forefront and it could become difficult to even get past them and into their underlying memories and thoughts, but they were almost always more susceptible to suggestion and rarely noticed if Mnemosyne changed things around. Entering this man's mind, however, was like plunging into ice water. She felt her own mind shiver and strain to maintain connection. It was as if she'd been jabbed with a thousand needles, but within a few moments, she adjusted to the strange phenomenon and pressed on. One thing was already for certain; this was not a normal human mind. In her time with THEMIS, she had probed the minds of humans, mutants, and animals, each having an individual feel or layout, but this man's mind was beyond anything she had felt before.

The first thing that came to her was his nightmare. She saw him, standing alone in the dark, his hands over his hands pressed hard against his ears. Suddenly, a male voice boomed out, **"I banish you!"**, causing him to flinch and spin towards his left, searching for the source. He was shaken, and his tongue darted across his lips momentarily before he spoke.

**"Please, father..."**

**"You are not my son. You are an opportunist who has taken my kindness for granted and endangered this entire realm!"** The same booming voice from before echoed through her mind, but with no apparent source. All Mnemosyne could see was blackness, and for the first time in a while, she felt truly afraid. Part of this, she knew, was not her own fear, but residual emotion emanating from the mind she was invading. She immediately grew uncomfortable, sharing this intimate terror with the stranger, and slipped out of his nightmare quietly, leaving him to fight his demons alone and delving deeper into his underlying thoughts.

Once she'd reached the apex of his mind, a wall of facts assaulted her, giving her a ton of basic personal knowledge; usually, these were things linked to personal identity, and were often represented as a check list that Mnemosyne could just gaze along. In this man's mind, it was much more personal, as if she was breathing in a spark that left pinpricks of electricity on her tongue, each tiny spot being another aspect of him. She scrambled to gather her knowledge of him and relayed it back to herself.

'_Loki Odinson..._  
_Laufeyson?' _Mnemosyne was struck with confusion. There were two contradicting identities, and she wasn't sure which was the real surname. '_I guess, neither is he...'_

_'Resident of Asgard. FALSE: Former Resident of Asgard. He attempted to dominate the realm, and upon failing, enslave the human population in order to take the throne he thought was his.'_

A hard shiver ran through Mnemosyne and she felt the connection waver momentarily. This was the man responsible for the alien attack in New York months ago. What was he doing here? She refocused her attention on securing information and pushed her thoughts out of her mind.

_'Asgardian. FALSE: Jotun. Frost... giant?'_

Again, Mnemosyne found herself shaken. Though the words normally meant nothing to her, there was a special understanding of their meaning that came with being inside Loki's mind. He was not a mortal man, but a creature (alien? No, god?) from another realm beyond anything she had ever known. But here she was, taking in his knowledge as fact, consuming his understanding, and still completely lost in what it all meant.

Knowing her connection with his mind was fading, Mnemosyne still needed to find a way to better understand how this man had come to be here. She dug through memories as though flipping the pages in a book to read passages which had been highlighted for her. One struck her as particularly important, and she inserted her consciousness into the memory, losing all sense of the outside world.  
Mnemosyne stood in a long hallway adorned with strange artifacts, which she immediately recognized as stolen relics from other worlds. she ha never seen them before, but something in Loki's mind shared a strong connection or familiarity with them, which spilled over into her.

Before her stood Loki, dressed in green and gold, at the bottom of a sweeping stairway. At the top stood an ancient man, one eye covered by metal to hide a gaping hole, the other full of sorrow as he gazed upon his son. '_Odin,'_ Mnemosyne confirmed with herself. Something within her felt deeply guilty for being inside this memory, as she recognized that it was one of the last Loki had where Odin acknowledged him as his son.

Loki was yelling, shaking and spitting as he encroached upon Odin, whose figure slowly began to slump to the stairs. The young god was furious, rightfully so, and as he accused Odin of kidnapping him and locking him away in Asgard, it was as if a spell had been broken. Loki finally saw himself as what he was: different. A monster, a nightmare, a freak. So long it had been hidden from him, but now he saw the real reason he was always second best to his so called 'brother', why everyone viewed his magical prowess as abnormal and to be feared. All this time, he was the enemy, and he had never known.

Mnemosyne collapsed about the same time Odin did, overwhelmed with the emotions running through her. It had become impossible to differentiate her feelings with Loki's, but she knew that his sense of being outcast was particularly close to home for her. She knew the horrid feeling of discovery he had been through, and she also knew the power of embracing that dark, wicked side so eager to come forth... Shaking, she placed her head in her hands as Loki called for the guards, trying to save his father whom he knew not whether he loved or hated...

Suddenly Mnemosyne was pulled to her feet, and her terrified brown eyes met with a piercing jade set that she immediately recognized.

**"Get. Out."**

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**Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed. Review me please, I'm a glutton for punishment.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Notes: I love that people are liking this story. Would love to see some reviews, though~3 I really enjoy feedback. Just as a warning, this chapter contains a bit of violence and disturbing content. Things will be a bit dark at first, but I promise, there will be plenty of fun and action later on!**

**Chapter 3**

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Mnemosyne returned to consciousness inside her body, her fingers wrapped around the final strap that kept Loki tied to the cot. While she was inside his mind, it appeared as though he was inside hers, pulling on her like a puppet to make her untie his restraints. She pulled her arms back, moving away from the man-god as he rose from the bed. There was fury in his eyes, but he maintained a calm composure as he stood to his full height. He was nearly a foot taller than her, and the way he looked down at her with anger fuming behind his eyes, Mnemosyne felt shrunken down. As he stepped towards her, she mirrored him and stepped away until her back was against the cold, white wall.

The wait in silence felt like an eternity, made no better by Loki, who seemed to be dissecting her with her eyes. Tiny goosebumps rose along her skin where his gaze had past, and while she couldn't bring herself to look into his eyes, his overwhelming presence made it hard to look away from him. Finally, he broke the silence: **"What are you?"** There was an eerie calmness to his tone, and the question hung in he air before Mnemosyne looked up to him, her gaze finally matching his.

**"My name is Mnemosyne. I am a... Mutant. And you are...?"**

Loki raised an eyebrow, a light smirk twisting his lips. His words became honeyed, but in a sense that reminded her of a cat toying with a mouse. **"I think you must already know who I am, ****_mutant_****, but you forget yourself. You take the name of a Titan and wear it as a mask."**

Something about his wily tone infuriated Mnemosyne. She pushed her shoulders back, trying to regain some ground and show Loki she would not be berated by him. **"You would know much about hiding behind a mask, ****_Odinson._****"**

The rage in his eyes that followed preceded any movement, so Mnemosyne moved out of the way just in time to avoid being slapped across the mouth. She tried to slip past him, but Loki proved to be quite fast and grabbed her by the top of her jacket, slamming her against the wall again. Mnemosyne struggled to breathe, the air having left her lungs, as she stared up into those dark, angry eyes. '_Now would be a good time to send someone in, Jennings,'_ she pleaded silently, her gaze shifting to the door. It quickly returned to Loki as she felt a hand lock around her neck, not enough to be life threatening, but more than enough to be painful.

**"You have one last chance to answer my questions, pathetic girl."** His voice was icy in contrast to his hot breath that hit her cheek as he leaned closer to hiss, **"Where are we?**"

Mnemosyne, the pathetic girl she was, stammered in reply, **"A-A-Allentown. Just outside Allentown, Pennsylvania."** When he looked at her quizzically as though deciding whether or not she was lying, she continued. **"The United States. Earth, or - or Midgard?"** She remembered of the few things she absorbed in Loki's mind that Midgard was Earth's name in his native tongue. This seemed to be the right thing to say, as his grip loosened ever so slightly.

**"Well done, Mutant. Now, explain why and how you were able to get inside of my mind."**

Mnemosyne was at a loss; she wasn't sure what to tell him. Never had she actually failed to conceal her presence inside someone's mind before, but now she knew that this was no ordinary man, and not only was he aware of her being inside his mind, but he had been able to push back into hers and use her to untie himself. There was no real way to explain why he was there, other than THEMIS wanting to figure out his usefulness, but she couldn't quite betray their motivations while they were watching. An idea struck her that immediately gave her a horrid feeling, but she knew that it might be the only way to tell him the truth, therefore saving her skin.

**"Let me show you,"** Mnemosyne said, her voice shaking as she reached a hand up to touch the one he had on her throat. **"You'll know all you need to, and you already know you can push into my mind while I'm in yours, so I can't really do anything to hurt you from this position, can I?"** Loki looked absolutely dumbstruck by her suggestion of going back into his mind, but before he could comment, she continued. **"I'm trusting you not to do that, so I need you to trust me just a little."** She took his silent, disturbed state as a 'yes', and reached her mind out towards his, her eyes fluttering shut as she went slightly limp against the wall.

She felt inclined to tell Loki the truth; call it self preservation instinct, but Mnemosyne realized that if this man-god fancied, he could kill her and probably everyone else in the facility. It was probably best to get on his good side, even if that did screw other people over when he went homicidal. First, she showed him her own memories of what the building looked like. She had only shared her own memories with another once, so it was hard for her to convey exact detail or keep certain details that stirred up from entering his consciousness. For example, her bedroom, the most familiar place in the facility, popped up, and she made an effort to shove that thought away before he got the wrong ideas.

Next, she tried to give him a thorough explanation of THEMIS. While she showed him flashes of people, soldiers, and scientists, Mnemosyne did her best to explain: **"I'm an operative for the organization THEMIS. All I know about them is that they have a lot of money and influence, and want to control people using whatever they can get their hands on - Mutants, nuclear arms, and in your case a god."** She tried to show him a few memories of Jennings, but several came up where he slapped her or was screaming into her face, usually while other guards held her. Terror rose within her from the memories, and she couldn't stop the emotions and memories from being received by Loki.

To her horror, he began to push back into her mind, specifically at the feeling of fear tied to her memory of Jennings. It was like he was picking at a scab, and though she tried to pull that section of her mind further from him, he seemed to be in control. The scan burst, and memories flooded her mind. Loki sifted through them, trying to find the most painful ones to use against her.

Several occasions popped up; a spider in the bathtub, having a gun drawn on her by a guard, moments ago when Loki had grabbed her by the throat, but there was one she desperately held into, pleading out loud for him to stop, begging for him to withdrawal into his own mind again. Bit by bit, he pulled the memory away from her, like prying her fingers off of it, and the memory fell into his hands.

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_Lydia sat in front of her mother, her hands still on either side of the woman's head. Her eyes were open, but vacant, mirroring a tranquility that was in her husbands as he sat next to her, almost lifeless. Tears were streaming down Lydia's face and she began to sob openly at what she'd done. They would soon forget about Lydia, and after an hour or two when their minds adjusted they would continue life as normal, childless. It brought her overwhelming grief to do it, but she knew they would be better off never having loved her than suffering the loss of her._

_She didn't bother to pack anything or take a key before she left. She'd made sure to get rid of any photos in the house of her and dumped most of her belongings in the dumpster behind the apartment. Lydia didn't want to risk those memories resurfacing, if that was even possible, so she took all the necessary precautions to erase her from their lives altogether. 'Just one thing left,' she thought grimly, standing in the bus terminal and waiting for the next pick up._

_She rode the bus to the George Washington Bridge, getting off and walking to the middle where all she could see was blue when she looked down. The New York City traffic blared around her, all of them too busy to notice the 17 year old girl as she climbed the railing to dangle her feet over the edge. She gasped through her sobs, her hangs shaking violently as she clung to the railing and tried not to look at the water below. A feeling of calmness overtook her, and she thought that, in that moment, she would have given anything to be in her mothers safe, warm arms._

_Her fingers slid off the railing, and she fell._

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Mnemosyne took a painful gasp of air, her body jerking to life on the floor. Immediately, she looked up to Loki, and could not contain the tears of shame, anger, and misery that stung in her eyes. While she expected him to mock her weakness, the god looked down at her with a nearly unreadable expression. Mnemosyne detected a small amount of pity, then curled her legs against her chest and wept openly into her knees. She heard the door open and the click of a gun switching its safety off, but Peterson's yelling seemed so muffled by her grief. She felt Loki's presence leave her immediate area, and a pair of arms pulled her to her feet an escorted her from the door. Lydia looked up just in time to catch Peterson's concerned gaze as she was escorted through the door.


End file.
